Morocco World NewsMorocco:
Native English speakers seem to have no difficulties getting a teaching position in any country they desire. This is due to the recruiters' preference to candidates from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and South Africa. Interestingly enough, candidates from the above-mentioned countries do not need to have teaching backgroundand, in some cases, not even a teaching certificate is required to get a job.READ MORE

Global NewsCanada:
It's been more than a quarter-century since Anna Kirova moved to Edmonton as a refugee. The University of Alberta Early Childhood Education professor moved with her husband and young son. They wanted to be somewhere safe after being told returning to their homeland of Bulgaria was too dangerous. Kirova knows first-hand what it's like to move somewhere where you don't know the language or culture. She moved from Paris, where her husband was doing a post-doctoral fellowship, to Quebec and eventually to Alberta's capital city. With a rich background, she spoke Bulgarian, Russian and French but didn’t speak English, and said at the time there were no other Bulgarian families in Edmonton.READ MORE

By: Douglas Magrath In a recent article, I described why integrative testing is a better way of testing language competence than discrete-point testing. An integrative test draws on a variety of sources. Syntax, vocabulary, "schema," cultural awareness, reading skills, pronunciation and grammar are all factors the test-maker and test-taker need to keep in mind. In a follow-up article, I offered a variety of possibilities for testing. Let's examine these tests even further.READ MORE

Prepare Your Program for NCATE/CAEP Review5 April 2016, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Is your institution preparing for NCATE/CAEP recognition? If so, don't miss this event! Experts at the workshop will cover the national recognition in detail, including a review of the TESOL P-12 Teacher Education Program Standards, and will advise faculty and staff on how to prepare their institution for compiling a TESOL program report. Plus, as a special feature, you can add on a private, one-hour consulting session with a trained reviewer. Register today!

TESOL Pre- and Postconvention Institutes in Baltimore
Get the most out of your 2016 Convention experience with Pre- and Postconvention Insitutes (PCIs)! PCIs are full- or half-day in-depth workshops led by experts in the field. Topics for 2016 include content-based instruction, computer-assisted language learning, pronunciation, writing, and materials development. Limited space is available.

TESOLThe Itinerary Planner for the 2016 convention, which includes more than 800 sessions, is now online. You can search sessions by Track (Interest Section), Date, and Session Type. You can also add sessions and exhibitors to your online planner, which is tied to the mobile app. Use your TESOL login to access the planner.READ MORE

Education WeekThe nationwide shortage of bilingual K-12 teachers has school systems looking beyond the United States to fill the growing demand for qualified instructors. Districts have struggled for decades to find bilingual teachers, especially in communities where English is not the first language for many students. Now, recent upticks in the percentage of English language learner students and demand for dual-language programs for their English-speaking peers have more districts tapping an already shallow talent pool. Bilingual teachers are in especially short supply in places like Texas, where nearly 40 percent of the residents are Hispanic or Latino.READ MORE

The Boston GlobeIt seems that the impending state takeover of the Southbridge Public Schools follows that of Lawrence and Holyoke. That these three districts have large numbers of English language learners is not a coincidence. Since the ballot initiative known as Question 2 passed in 2002, with limited exceptions, public school children have been taught all subjects in English, regardless of their English proficiency. This has taken the gift of bilingualism away from our students and has resulted in failure rates of English learners in communities such as Southbridge.READ MORE

Central Michigan LifeEnglish is not the first language for some Central Michigan University students. Conversation Partners is a growing volunteer program that pairs up students working on their English language skills with a proficient English speakers. The program had a little over 300 English language learners last semester, which is double the participation in 2009. In terms of volunteers, Conversation Partners had about 400 volunteer last semester.READ MORE

Yale NewsNew Haven educational programs have expanded their offerings to accommodate an increase in students who do not speak English as their first language. Educational support for English language learners in the Elm City mainly targets students whose first language is Spanish, said Pedro Mendia-Landa, supervisor of the English learner programs at New Haven Public Schools. But as the diversity of languages represented in New Haven has increased in recent years, NHPS has introduced specialized programs that appeal to a broader array of languages.READ MORE

Society for Neuroscience via Science DailyLearning a second language is easier for some adults than others, and innate differences in how the various parts of the brain "talk" to one another may help explain why, according to a study in the Journal of Neuroscience. "These findings have implications for predicting language learning success and failure," said study author Xiaoqian Chai. The various regions of our brains communicate with each other even when we are resting and aren't engaged in any specific tasks. The strength of these connections — called resting-state connectivity — varies from person to person, and differences have previously been linked to differences in behavior including language ability.READ MORE

Edutopia (commentary)I coached Jane in her third year of teaching ninth-grade English in a high school with many English language learners. Her style leaned toward direct instruction, and she did a great job of modeling literacy strategies. One day, I observed Jane leading a mini-lesson on paragraph revision. As I sat beside an ELL named Veronica, I noticed that her "paragraph" was one long run-on sentence. With Veronica's permission, I made a copy of the paragraph for Jane.READ MORE